For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:13-14

A year or two ago, one of our grandsons was diagnosed with an illness that will require medical attention annually for the rest of his life. He is going to be four in October and he is quite the little man.

When those that you love, especially little ones are struck with illnesses or physical issues, it is so difficult to stay strong and not question God. But just like with every other trial that we face, we just need to look a little deeper and to God’s promises, for answers and peace.

Now, I know that there are excruciatingly sad stories that we all know and at no point am I saying that it is necessarily easy to do but, why suffer with questions, anxiety and heartbreak when God offers us peace and comfort…go to Him and His word.

The first thing that those who don’t know the Lord (or that even we might ask) is “if God is so loving, why?” Well, to answer that question we need to go to the scriptures.

Since we vacated the Garden of Eden, because of our sin, satan has been using, manipulating and harming man kind. We went from inhabiting the Garden, where even weeds did not grow, to a world that is so contaminated that the food that we grow is even unhealthy and/or hazardous to our health.

In John 12:31 (Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.) the scripture tells us that satan is the ruler of this world. That does not mean that God has no authority here on earth and that satan rules! No, it means that satan has been, and still is, deceiving and manipulating mankind. He lures us into harming each other, our surroundings and God’s very creation.

We have caused so much damage to this earth. Isaiah 24:5 says – “The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.” and Micah 7:13 says – “But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds.” Now these verses are regarding times prior to now, however…we can clearly see that our deeds and actions have an effect on creation and a lot of the illnesses, birth defects and deaths that we see are a result of that very thing.

We never want to take responsibility for the awful things that go on in our lives, but we (mankind) have not been respectful of our planet. God gave us dominion and we have trampled and disregarded our planet and every living creature on it, especially each other. And, we are suffering because of it.

But, God is omniscient, He knew us before we were even born (Psalm 139, Galatians 1 & Jeremiah 1) knows what we will face in this life and He has equipped each of us (with His help and strength) to be able to handle whatever comes our way and He will even be there with us as we go through it (Deuteronomy 31:8 “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”).

Our little grandson is a perfect example of that. Yes, he has an illness that we all wish that he didn’t have. Yes he will have to suffer because of it. But, he is the strongest, most fearless and resilient child I have ever met. He has inoculations and doesn’t shed a tear, he falls down and cuts himself and doesn’t even cry, he split his little head open and bounced right back like it had never happened. God knew our little guy was going to have to endure some stuff in this life. Not because of anything that he had done, but because of what we (mankind and satan) have done and God built him in such a way that he will be able to handle these health issues and anything else that comes his way.

Our Heavenly Father’s desire for us, was not illness, pain, health issues or death. He desired eternity in a garden paradise for us. We messed that up with our sin. And He, knowing that we would, gave his Son as a sacrifice for us so that we would have an opportunity to experience that paradise that He had planned. When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we are forgiven, the price for our sins is paid and we are guaranteed eternity in heaven with no pain, no illness, no tears and no fear and no death. Thank you Lord!

I pray that today we would share the hope that we have with those around us, so they too can know Him, His peace, His promises, His love and eternity in heaven with our loving Heavenly Father.

If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior or the peace that He can provide I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver page and pray the prayer that is outlined there. When you do, please reach out to me at admin@Forgiven-N-Loved.com and let me know so that I can pray for you and help you grown in your knowledge of and relationship with our Precious Savior.